Cracks
by It-Can-Be-A-Journey
Summary: It's 24 years after the end of the war and Fred Weasley survived the Battle of Hogwarts. But something happened to him that day, something George is just beginning to notice. Fred Weasley has been keeping secrets, and its time for his family to find out just what kind of danger they're in.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note- This story takes place 24 years after the end of the second war and Fred survived. The only other thing I changed is George's son's name. In the books when Fred died, George named his son after him, but since Fred is alive here and it would be weird to have two Fred Weasley's running around, I changed his name to Finn. Sorry if that's confusing. Also every chapter will be in a different person's point of view. This chapter is in George's point of view. **

**Disclaimer- Anything you recognize I do not own.**

Chapter 1

(George Weasley)

"Oi! Angelina! We're gonna be late!" said George Weasley irritably.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold your hippogriffs George," replied his wife, Angelina, as she walked down the stairs. George looked at his wife walk down the stairs still trying to put in an earring and smiled. She had never been very good at being on time. "How do I look?" she asked.

"Wonderful," said George, sweeping Angelina up and kissing her softly.

"Ugh, can you not do that in front of me? Please?" asked their daughter, watching her parents from the corner of the room.

Angelina ignored Roxanne and looked at her husband. "Now who's gonna make us late?" she asked with a little laugh.

This brought George to his senses, "You're right. If we're late one more time, my mother is really going to kill us," Angelina agreed profusely.

After the war, the Order of the Phoenix started drifting apart. And that was technically ok; after all there was no need for the Order anymore. Kids grew up, got married, and moved away. But Mrs. Weasley, being the family-oriented woman that she was, didn't like seeing her family and friends grow distant. So, she started a new tradition. Every Saturday night, any man, woman, or child who Mrs. Weasley even remotely cared about was invited to dinner at the Burrow. And if they didn't attend, they were practically shunned for the next month. George and Angelina had been late last week and were currently on rocky waters.

"Finn! We're gonna be late!" Angelina shouted upstairs to her son. "He gets that from you you know," Angelina said looking pointedly at an amused George.

Finn galloped down the stairs, "Ok! I'm here!"

"Well then let's get going," said Angelina as she strode towards the fireplace. She picked up a handful of Floo powder, said clearly "The Burrow!" walked into the fireplace, and disappeared in a jet of green flame. The children went next. Then George.

He appeared in his childhood home like he had so many times before. He turned and walked into the kitchen. "Hi mum," George said giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. "Where is everyone?" he asked, looking around at the empty house.

"Oh they're outside. I was thinking, since this is the last dinner we'll have with the kids being home for the spring holidays, we should eat outside,"

"Ok," George said walking into the yard. Harry, Ginny, their kids and many others were already sitting at the long table set in the middle of the yard. Hermione, Ron and their kids were up and walking around, talking to Arthur, Bill, Fleur, and Teddy Lupin. Charlie, as usual, was missing, seeing as he was still working in Romania.

"Hello George!" said a happy voice from behind him.

"Hey Percy, how's work at the ministry?" George asked, giving his brother a hug.

"Good, good. There was a small disturbance with some Puking Pastilles the other day," he said giving his younger brother a pointed look.

George laughed, "Sorry Percy, but I just sell them, it's not up to me how they're used,"

Mrs. Weasley came out from the house levitating a big pot of soup, a roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and buttered rolls behind her. This was the usual cue for the group of family/friends to take their seats. With a flourish of her wand Mrs. Weasley set the food down, cut the chicken, and had served the group dinner. "Dig in," she said happily.

The dinner began as usual with many compliments to Mrs. Wesley's cooking, and then the conversation turned to the kids' school year thus far. Teddy, Victoire, Molly, Dominique, and Louis had all graduated. Finn and James were in their final year. Rose and Albus in their sixth. Roxanne and Lucy in their fifth. And Hugo and Lily brought up the rear in their fourth year at Hogwarts.

Albus and Rose gave long descriptions, mainly for the younger kids benefit, about learning to Apparate. Suddenly, a disheveled looking man, with shortish ginger hair and spattered freckles all over his face appeared with a loud _CRACK!_

"Speaking of Apparition," said James while the rest of the table gasped.

"FRED!" George nearly screamed. He stood up and his chair fell over with a loud clang, before rushing to his twin.

Fred looked up in surprise, "George?" he asked as his brother pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "Whoa Georgie, what was that for?"

George couldn't believe his brother "YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOR OVER A MONTH!"

"Really?" Fred asked. George stared at his brother and Fred quickly said "Well I mean it just hasn't felt like that long is all..." he trailed off awkwardly.

At this point all the rest of the relatives had gotten up to give Fred their hugs. Once everyone was settled back at the table, Fred had conjured a plate for himself and took heaping portions of all the food, Mrs. Weasley looked at Fred with an obvious glare and said "Well?"

"Well, what?" Fred said looking confused.

"Where have you been! No visits, no post, no contact for over a month!"

Fred looked unscathed "Mum, I am 43 years old. I don't think it is really vital for me to check with my mother before I travel,"

Mrs. Weasley looked slightly hurt, "Well it would have been nice for you to at least say you were leaving,"

"Yes it would have. And I apologize for not telling anyone, but I left on a very short notice," Fred saw his still slightly hurt looking mother and added, "I really am sorry mum,"

Mrs. Weasley looked better and said "It's ok Fred,"

George watched this whole encounter and heartily disagreed with his mother. It was most certainly NOT ok. George knew he was thinking like a four year old, but Fred's absence was hard. George had to run their business alone for a month, he had to play with a different beater on the recreational Quidditch team he and Fred were on, and most importantly the only thing to console him was Fred's stupid note. _Gone traveling, be back soon. –Fred. _What did _that_ mean?

"Where did you go Uncle Fred?" Rose asked.

"Oh you know, around," Fred said mysteriously.

"What did you do?" this time the question was from Dominique.

Fred was now looking uncomfortable, "Well the usual, things…" he trailed off awkwardly.

Rose and Albus took this as an opportunity to continue the earlier conversation about Apparition lessons. George tuned the talking out and looked at Fred. He didn't get it, where _did_ Fred go? What _did_ he do? And most importantly, why wasn't Fred telling him?

George sighed inwardly. It had taken a while, but a few years ago he had realized the war had changed Fred, and not like the way the war changed others. The first few years had been rough on everyone, people everywhere had died and the survivors were faced with horrible guilt. But when that initial period of mourning was over, people moved on. They realized if they didn't make the most out of the new, free lives those others had died fighting for, then they would've died in vain. People were happy again, and for a while, life was good.

Even George was happy. He started dating Angelina and they eventually got married and had kids. The same thing happened to Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Percy. Even Draco Malfoy had a son now. But not Fred. It was hard for George because he couldn't figure out what exactly was wrong. Fred never seemed sad. But he didn't have kids, didn't have a wife, didn't even have a single steady girlfriend since Hogwarts. And it didn't even seem to bother Fred. George, Mrs. Weasley, and nearly everyone Fred knew was trying to set him up on dates with someone but Fred always declined. For a long time George had been worried that Fred was jealous he had married Angelina but whenever George asked him about it Fred made it very clear he was happy for his brother. It wasn't just Fred's absent love life. There were also other things. Incidents. Mind you, nothing as big as Fred practically disappearing off the face of the earth for a month but still important.

About ten years ago the family was at one of their Saturday night dinners when Fred's chest started to ring. Ring! Ring! Ring! George started to laugh, "What are you doing?" he asked his brother.

Fred looked slightly nervous as he reached in his shirt's breast pocket and pulled out a small box. The ringing seemed to be coming from this box.

"You got a cellphone?" Hermione asked incredulously.

Fred took one look at the 'cellphone' and said "Excuse me but I really have to take this." He turned his back to the group, flipped up the top half of the box, and raised the mysterious object to his ear. "Hello?" he asked quietly.

The group could hear some muttering issue from the 'cellphone' now. "I apologize for the inconvenience but I can't talk just now," he said.

The muttering voice sounded angry. Fred cast nervous looks to his family and said "Again I apologize for the trouble it caused you to call me but I cannot talk at the moment,"

Mutter, mutter, mutter. "Look," Fred said sounded agitated, "I'll call you back later," and he shut the lid on the object.

"Well that was rude Fred. It's not nice to hang up on people," Hermione said.

"What exactly just happened?" asked a confused looking Percy Weasley.

"You wizards really should take a Muggle Studies class. Well, that thing Fred has is called a cell phone." Hermione explained. Still looking at a table full of baffled faces she tried again, "It's like a portable telephone,"

That seemed to do the trick for most of the wizard-raised people in attendance. They may not know all that much about Muggles and their technology, but they knew enough to know what a telephone was.

"Who were you talking to Fred?" Hermione asked.

"No one. Wrong number," Fred replied a bit too quickly.

Hermione looked as if she was going to question this statement but someone beat her to the point.

"Why do you have a phone anyway?" asked the ever curious Teddy Lupin.

"I-I just find it useful to have," Fred stammered.

George grabbed the phone from his brother's hand, "Are you fond of Muggle toys like Dad?" he teased. He examined the phone quickly.

"Give it back!"

George rolled his eyes, "Well if it's that important to you," he tossed the phone to Ron who caught it with a light laugh.

"Guys I mean it!" Fred said, standing up.

Ron tossed it to Harry who passed it to Bill. Bill tried to toss the phone to Ginny but he misjudged the distance and it landed in the pitcher of lemonade with a soft plop.

"NO!" Fred cried. He rushed towards the drink and stuck his whole arm in, pulling out the phone a moment later. "No, no, no!" Fred said frantically pressing buttons on his phone.

The phone was clearly broken. "Look I'm sorry mate. I'll buy you a new one," George said, unsure as to why this was such a big deal.

Fred was angry, "You don't understand! You can't just buy me a new one George! This phone was… different," Fred stared sadly at the phone in his hands, looking up at George with an anger in his eyes George had never seen before.

"Merlin Fred, what's the big deal?! It's just a stupid phone!" George snapped back.

"It doesn't matter that it was 'just' a phone! It was important to me and you just couldn't leave well enough alone could you?!" Fred said angrily. He stormed away from the table and Disapparated with a loud _CRACK_.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked in a quiet voice.

"It doesn't matter, he'll get over it," George replied.

It took two weeks of cooling off and many, many apologies from George for Fred to start talking to him again.

But that wasn't all that had been odd. Five years after the phone fiasco the family happened to be sitting at yet another family dinner. Everyone was on time that night and they sat down at the table waiting for to serve them. She cut and served the food with a wave of her wand. The guests began to eat when Mrs. Weasley looked up and for the first time that night seemed to notice Fred still wearing his hat. "Fred dear take that silly thing off,"

"Take what silly thing off?" Fred asked.

"Your hat dear,"

"I don't think my hat is silly!" Fred said indignantly.

"Silly or not you shouldn't be wearing that at the dinner table," said Mrs. Weasley irritably, "Now take it off,"

"No," said Fred. "I am an adult mother and I can decide what to wear when I want to,"

Mrs. Weasley looked angry at first but then said coolly, "Ah but you forgot something Freddie. I'm a witch," She flicked her wand and Fred's hat vanished.

Every at the table gasped. Fred's signature ginger hair was jet black.

"Fred… I thought you liked your hair," Mrs. Weasley said, clearly hurt by this revelation. Every one at the table understood what a big deal this was. The Weasley's were known by two things in the wizarding world; they all had the same ginger hair and the same freckles. Dying your hair was like rejecting your family without ever having to say it aloud.

"I do mum! I do like my hair!" Fred said trying to help the situation.

"Then why did you change it?" Ron, who was proud of the way he looked, demanded to know.

Fred was clearly at a loss for words. "I-I just wanted to do something… different," he added lamely. An awkward silence fell over the normally talkative table. The rest of the night went by in near silence.

Fred missed dinner for two weeks before he dared show his face at dinner again and when he did it was with his original hair. No one brought up the subject that night and it was dropped. But George hadn't forgotten. George never forgot.

"Hello! Earth to George!" someone practically shouted next to him.

George shook his head to clear it and looked his wife, "Yah? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention,"

"Well that was kind of obvious George," Angelina replied with a slight smirk on her face, "Bill wanted to know how the shop is going,"

"Oh, great," he said, lost in his thoughts.

Mr. Weasley seemed to remember something, "George I was supposed to ask you about selling the Ministry some of the antidotes to your candies. You know the Fever Fudge, Puking Pastilles, and all those. People keep sneaking them into the building and our nurse can't do anything about the people who show up at work retching all over the floor. It has gotten so bad that the Minister of Magic himself asked me to talk to you,"

George nodded, "If it's that bad I think it could be a good idea. It's weird; adults don't usually buy our products,"

"The only adults who use them are the lazy ones who want to get out of work!" Percy said huffily.

"Thanks George. You can expect an owl with an appointment date soon," said Mr. Weasley.

The conversation veered towards the kids again and George found himself drifting out of the conversation. For the second time that night George stared at his twin intently. And for the second time that night Fred didn't seem to notice.

Every time George was with Fred now he couldn't help but get the feeling that they were drifting apart. George always told him everything and Fred nodded along, interjecting when necessary, but never talking about his own life. _Maybe that was the problem _he thought suddenly. Was that it? Is it really that simple? The more he considered it the more George was convinced it was the truth. Fred Weasley had a secret, and George was prepared to walk to the ends of the Earth to find out what it was.

7


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer- J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, not me.**

Chapter 2

(Arthur Weasley)

Arthur Weasley sat at his kitchen table in his home eating breakfast with his wife.

"Arthur don't forget today is George's meeting with the Minister. He'll be around soon so you can take him to the visitor's entrance," his wife reminded him.

Just then, there was a knock at the front door, "Speak of the devil," Arthur said with a twinkle in his eye.

Molly gave a snort and stood up to check on the door. Arthur finished his piece of toast and went to gather his things. He pulled on a long coat and grabbed his briefcase.

"Arthur! George's here!" his wife yelled from the entrance hall.

"Coming!" Arthur Weasley replied. He walked into the hall and gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek, "Ready to go George?"

"Sure Dad, though I still don't understand why we have to bother with these stupid visitor's entrances, Apparition is just as effective,"

"If visitors don't use the visitor's entrances how would we be able to tell who the visitor's are?" Arthur said.

"You could force them all to wear bright pink robes when visiting," George said.

"Oh, and you'd be alright with wearing a bright pink robe whenever you came visiting?"

"I wouldn't have to wear one, I came up with the brilliant idea," Arthur laughed at his son's twisted logic.

Mrs. Weasley chuckled and glanced at her watch, "You two are going to be late! Get going!"

"Alright, alright. Gosh, you'd think she want to get rid of us?" George smiled, gave his mother a peck on the cheek and the two Weasley men set off.

"I really am quite surprised Kingsley fit me in so quickly," said George, as the duo walked down the street, "I only sent him an owl saying I'd accepted his offer a week ago,"

As soon as the war was over Kingsley Shacklebolt had been appointed temporary Minister of Magic. A year later the wizarding world had finally settled down enough to hold a full election and Kingsley won by a landslide. He was the first Minister in many years who did a good job and people actually liked.

"Well that should tell you how serious this problem has gotten," Arthur said, "We've had three more incidents in the past week!"

"Why doesn't the Ministry just ban our products? I mean, I'm not epically fond of the idea, consideration it would lose me business, but it seems like an easier solution," said George.

"Like having visitors wear pink robes?" Arthur teased.

"Exactly," George said, unfazed.

"We've tried but your candies are so small they're quite easy to hide," Arthur said seriously.

Arthur had no intention of telling his son this, but he was starting to get very worried. People who were perfectly happy at their jobs and seemed to like to work had been affected by the candies. One of his co-workers had gotten a candy induced nosebleed the other day and claimed he didn't even buy Weasley products. He was so serious; he even offered to take Veritaserum to prove he wasn't lying.

So what did that mean? Could someone be targeting Ministry workers and slipping them candy? It seemed so but that didn't make sense, what was the point? Sure vomiting uncontrollably on the floor was not fun, but it didn't do any serious damage. No one really got hurt, so why would someone risk getting in trouble with the Ministry to do it?

Arthur was so lost in his thought he nearly walked past their destination; an old, red, Muggle telephone box. Arthur opened the door and gestured George inside. He squeezed in next to his son and reached around him to reach the telephone. He dialed 62442 and a cool, female voice answered him, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business,"

"Arthur Weasley Department of Magical Law Enforcement escorting George Weasley, who has an appointment with the Minister of Magic,"

"Thank you," replied the voice, "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes,"

George leaned over to the telephone and picked up a gleaming silver badge with the words _George Weasley, Appointment with Minister _on it and pinned it to his robes.

The female voice said "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium,"

The telephone box began to sink into the ground. When they had reached the bottom the female voice said "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," and the door to the telephone box opened.

Arthur said goodbye to George and watched as his son wove his way through the employees to the Atrium. George had been to the Ministry enough times already to know how to get where he needed to go so Arthur decided it was safe for him to get to work. He followed three letters into the elevator and went up to the third floor where he worked as the head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects.

"Arthur! There you are, one of the Unspeakables asked me to give this to you," one of his co-workers said, handing him a note.

Arthur unfolded the note. _I have a problem regarding a protective spell. I believe the spell to be fake; I was told that someone in your department could verify this. I would appreciate if you could send someone to investigate this at the earliest opportunity. Thank you, Unspeakable Mallory_

"Doorman! I have to go down to the Department of Mysteries for a bit to help an Unspeakable out, I'll see you later," he told his co-worker.

He took the lift down to the Department of Mysteries. Arthur stepped off the lift and gave a little shudder. Ever since he was attacked by Voldemort's snake, Nagini, years ago, he felt uncomfortable down here. Arthur walked into the dark entrance room and started.

"George! Merlin you scared me! What are you doing down here?" Arthur glanced at his watch, "You're going to be late!"

Arthur looked at George's badge as his son struggled to come up with a response. The badge read _George Weasley, Meeting with Minister. _Was that what it had said earlier? Arthur didn't think so.

George managed to sputter out, "I-uh-I got lost,"

"George just take the lift back up to the Atrium, someone can help you from there. You don't want to be late for the Minister,"

"Yah, I'll just go, and, do that," he awkwardly replied.

George left the room and Arthur gave a small shake of his head, what was George doing down here? He knew his way around the Ministry almost as well as Arthur himself, he couldn't have gotten lost. This was definitely suspicious, even for George. Arthur decided to question him about it later.

Arthur had to talk to many Unspeakables before finding Unspeakable Mallory. When he did eventually locate him Arthur watched as Mallory preformed the spell and decided it was indeed fake. Mallory thanked him and Arthur was free to get back to his normal office.

He hurriedly walked to the lift, wanting to leave this place at the earliest opportunity. Arthur strode up the long corridor when the lift in front of him shuddered to a stop. For some unknown reason, Arthur quickly ducked behind a corner. He heard the lift open and peeked around the corner to see George start walking down the hall opposite Arthur.

Arthur was confused. George had already been down here once, and Arthur had already reminded him about the appointment, so why had George come back? _Well,_ Arthur thought determinedly, _only one way to find out._ So, he began stalking his son through the corridor.

He tried to make as little noise as possible and seeing as George hadn't turned around yet, it seemed to be working. Arthur watched as his son skillfully dogged Unspeakables and managed to get into the Prophecy room without anyone noticing. Arthur watched as George took a quick look around, and watched as George walked out. The same process happened for three rooms until they came across what Arthur knew the Unspeakables call the Death Room. George went in and Arthur found some shadows that seemed to be ever present in the Department of Mysteries to skulk in.

Something seemed to interest George here. He walked around the archway at the center of the room five or six times then, to Arthur's surprise, lifted the cloth covering the doorway. The arch emitted a bright white light and seemed to be made of dense, swirling fog.

"Merlin," George said. Arthur thought he heard something in his voice that sounded almost like, fear?

Arthur was starting to get afraid himself. Just being in the Department of Mysteries tended to do this to him but this room was especially feared by Ministry workers.

Arthur was getting tired of having to hide from his own son so he decided to make his presence known. "George? What are you doing in here?" he said, stepping out from behind the shadows.

George flew around, "Dad?! This day just gets worse and worse," he muttered.

"George you can get in serious trouble for being down here! You're supposed to be with the Minister!" Arthur said confusedly.

"Look, we've got bigger problems than that at the moment," George snapped, "And I'm not George, I'm Fred,"

"You boys can't pull that trick anymore, remember? I know you're George, you're missing an ear,"

"Well I had to make it look realistic didn't I?"

This confused Mr. Weasley greatly. What did he mean? There is no way he cut off an ear, not even his sons could be that stupid. So, this had to be George… right? What were those twins playing at?

'Fred' swore again loudly, reached in his pocket and took out a cell phone.

So this really was Fred. Arthur remembered seeing that phone years ago, there was quite a commotion about it, he had wanted to question Fred about it but Fred had never seemed to want to. Fred dialed some numbers then held the phone close to his ear.

Arthur was so close, and it was such a quiet room, that he could hear the phone ringing. Someone on the other end picked up and said, "Fred now's not really a good time,"

"We've got a problem," Fred said, staring at the veil.

Arthur could hear loud crashes and possibly explosions coming from the other end of the phone. "I'm kind of in the middle of something," a woman's voice replied angrily.

Fred tried again, "You really need to see this,"

Arthur heard a loud BANG come from the phone and he heard the woman swear, "Look Fred, I'll call you back!" Arthur heard a click and knew the woman had hung up.

Fred sighed and pressed some buttons on his phone. "Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Can I see that Daily Prophet you have with you?"

Arthur was confused, but seeing no harm coming from giving his son a newspaper he replied, "Ok,"

Fred took the newspaper and flipped it to the front page. He then stood next to the veil, holding the newspaper up with one hand in front of his chest, the other hand holding the phone as far away from him as he could reach, with the back side pointing at him.

Fred pressed a button on the phone, there was a click and a flash, and it was over. Fred muttered "Thanks," and handed the newspaper back to his father.

"No problem, uh, what did you just do?"

"I took a picture,"

Arthur was amazed that such a little thing could take pictures, but this was not the time for questioning Muggle technology. So he asked a different question, "Why?"

"So I can send it to someone," he replied while pressing more buttons on the phone. Fred hit one final button and closed the phone.

"Um, Fred?"

"Yah Dad?"

So many possible questions flashed though Arthur's mind and he settled for the one that he thought would have the simplest answer. "Why did you need my newspaper?"

"To show what the date was,"

Arthur shook his head, "Oh," he said. He gave up trying to make any sort of sense for the situation and decided to just trust his son.

After a minute the phone began to ring again. Fred flipped open the top and pressed it to his ear.

"I'm on my way," the woman from earlier said.

Fred hung up and waited. A moment later a woman appeared, seemingly out of thin air, next to Fred. There was no _CRACK,_ and she wasn't holding a wand, so she couldn't have come by Apparition. _How did she get here then?_ Arthur wondered.

The woman was very pretty. She seemed to be in her mid-forties like Fred. She was a few inches shorter than Fred; she had long, straight, black hair and bright, grey eyes. She was wearing simple blue jeans and a black t-shirt. She also seemed to be covered in dirt and, possibly, blood?

Fred gave the woman a fast and gentle hug then asked, "What were you in the middle of?"

"Oh nothing, I was trying to get my hands on the names of Chases' newest followers, but when you called I wrapped it up quick,"

"Are you hurt?" Fred asked.

"Only a few scratches, now tell me about this thing," she said gesturing to the veil.

"Well we're in the Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries. That's about all I know to be honest, but my Dad might be able to help us,"

The woman spun around and started at Arthur, "Fred!" she whispered angrily, "What's he doing here!?"

"He followed me! I couldn't help it! He might be able to help though, he works here," Fred said helplessly.

The woman sighed, "Fine," she said unhappily.

Arthur watched this all with a growing confusion that apparently was evident on his face because when Fred spoke it was kindly and almost pleading, "Dad? Do you know anything about this veil? It's really important,"

Arthur sighed, he trusted Fred and if Fred said it was important, then it was important. "I'll have you know I might be putting my job on the line for this. This room is called the Death Room. The people who work in this department believe that that veil leads to the afterlife,"

"Why?" the woman asked.

"The people who go in never come out,"

The woman sighed, "Fred this is a problem, we need to talk to the Minister,"

"Ok," Fred looked at the woman and they seemed to come to an understanding. Fred turned to his father with an apologetic look on his face, "I'm really, really sorry Dad. But this is for your own good," he raised his wand and before Arthur could react whispered "_Obliviate_"

That's when everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note- Reviews would be greatly appreciated!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 3

(Chase Mathews)

Chase Mathews sat seven stories under the ground in a small, dimly lit, dank room. And yet, even in these unfavorable conditions, he was smiling. A real, genuine smile. Everything was in place, his employees had assured him. All he had to do now was wait for the call.

A few more minutes now and he would have what he's craved for so long. _Her. _And she would do what he wanted this time, because this time they'd have _him_ too. Chase desperately felt the urge to pace but there was hardly any room to sit in the small room, let alone move around. So instead, he stayed curled up against the wall and patiently waited. About a minute later the phone in his jacket pocket began to vibrate and he pulled it out hurriedly.

Chase flipped up the top and raised it to his ear, "Yes?"

"We have them," a monotone voice replied.

"Both of them?"

"Yes sir,"

Chase's impossibly large grin grew even further, "I'll be right up,"

Chase stood up quickly. He dusted himself off and unlocked the door of the broom closet he'd been hiding in for the past few hours. He peeked around the corner and, satisfied that no one was watching, slipped out of the room. He composed his giddy excitement well enough for no one to question his presence as he made his way further and further into the Ministry of Magic.

He needed to walk only a few minutes before reaching his destination, the Minister's office. Chase flashed his sliver visitor's badge at the office's guard and was allowed entry. He slammed the double doors open, unable to hide his smile any longer.

Chase stood, grinning like a madman, and surveyed the scene. In one corner of the room, behind a large desk, sat the Minister of Magic himself. Chase ignored the man and studied the rooms two other inhabitants. In another corner of the room a man in his mid-forties sat, tied to a chair, unconscious. He had a thin trickle of blood running out from under his ginger hair.

Chase turned around and locked the double doors behind him, then looked at the last member in the room. In the middle of the room, also tied to a chair, sat a woman. She too, appeared to be in her mid-forties but Chase knew all too well to never trust appearances. She had long, black hair and was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a black shirt. This woman was fully awake and straining against her bonds. Her clothes were torn in some places and Chase could see the dried blood there.

The woman stared at Chase with pure fury in her eyes, "Chase," she growled.

Chase walked up and bent down so his face was right in front of the woman's, "Hello Violet,"

Violet growled further. Chase straightened up and began pacing in front of her.

"You're not a wizard Chase. How did you manage to get Kingsley under the Imperius Curse?" the woman asked.

"Oh, I have friends even you don't know about. Now let's just cut to the chase, shall we? I have you and your precious little boyfriend, why don't you make it easier on all of us and just answer my questions the first time," Chase said coolly.

"That all depends on the questions. If you ask me what I had for lunch I'd gladly tell you but if you're gonna ask me where I live, well, I'd find that a bit creepy," Violet replied smoothly.

Chase was about to reply when the ginger haired man on the other side of the room began to stir.

The man lifted his head up and blinked a few times as if to clear his vision, "Ugh, what happened?" he said groggily.

Chase strode over to the man, "So, you're the boyfriend? Not much of a looker, are we?"

"Hey! I consider myself to be very good looking, thank you, and my wife agrees," he said indignantly.

"Oh, the happy couple got married, did they? You neglected to mention that, Violet dear," Chase said, now looking again at the woman.

"What in Merlin's name are you talking about? That is not my wife!" the man said.

"Oh shut up," Chase said, still looking at the woman, "Look I don't care what you two are to each other, all I know is that you care about him, and if you don't do what I say, he'll pay for it,"

Violet glared at Chase further.

"Now, tell me what you know about the Cracks," he said slowly.

The woman looked at Chase and simply stated, "Nothing,"

"I don't think you realize what kind of a situation you're in. You and your little friend are both tied to chairs. You're both unarmed. No one even knows you're here. You are completely at my mercy. Now, let's try this again. What do you know about the Cracks?"

Violet continued staring daggers at him but refused to answer the question. Chase snapped. He slapped the girl as hard as he could and was pleased to see her lip begin to bleed. "TELL ME!" he shouted.

"Hey! Don't hurt her!" the man shouted from his side of the room.

Chase smiled and turned to him, "Would you like to answer my questions?"

"What questions?" he said confusedly.

"What do you know about the Cracks?" Chase said as he walked over to the man.

The man looked confused, "What cracks?"

Chase punched the man in the nose. The man screamed in pain as his now broken nose began to bleed heavily. Chase grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and pulled him foreword so their faces were nearly touching.

"I'm not playing games, unless you want to get seriously hurt, I suggest you start talking," he whispered.

"I don't even know what's going on!" the man said desperately.

Chase shoved the man away from himself and began pacing again.

Chase could hear the sound of a key turning in a lock and another man entered the room. Chase recognized him as one of his employees.

"This better be extremely important, for you to be interrupting me like this," Chase growled.

The man looked frightened, "Sir! The guard at the door thought your badge looked suspicious and he called security! They're coming up now!"

Chase swore, "Minister, come with me,"

Kingsley stood up and followed Chase out of the room.

_Meanwhile, in the Minister's office_

The door shut behind the two men.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" the captive man shouted.

"SHHH! Just keep quiet and I'll explain!" the woman said in an angry whisper. She calmed down a bit then started again "They think you're Fred,"

"But I'm George!" the man said desperately.

"SHHH! Keep your voice down! _I_ know you're George, but _they_," the woman used her head to gesture to the door, "don't. Listen quickly; they'll be back any minute. You need to keep pretending you're Fred. The only reason they want Fred is to get to me and I don't think keeping you, to get to Fred, to get to me, is something they'd do,"

"And if they don't want to keep me?" George said, struggling to keep up with this woman's hurried speech.

The woman looked at George and said grimly, "Well, then they would have no problem with getting rid of you. Look, just don't say anything, that's what Fred would do anyway so it's not going to be suspicious. There's a good chance you'll be getting hurt again. As you just saw Chase tends to get really angry, really fast. The best thing you can do is just try not to respond. Don't talk to him, don't even look at him, he gets a bit less angry that way. Got all that?"

The man nodded solemnly.

"Any quick questions?"

"Who are you?"

The woman smiled a bit sadly. "A friend," she said simply.

The double doors burst open.

Chase dealt with the suspicious guards quickly. All he really had to do was make Kingsley verify that Chase was indeed a guest and not a crazy wizard coming to murder the Minister. Once that was handled he was able to return back to his captives.

The two men burst through the double doors. Chase made Kingsley resume sitting at his desk while he locked the doors. Chase looked at his two defiant captives and sighed, maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as he had originally thought.

"Now which one of you would like to talk first?"

Neither prisoner moved.

Chase was getting angry. This was supposed to be simple. This was supposed to be his answer. The way to get the girl to talk. Get the man, get answers. That was the plan. And it wasn't working!

Chase steadied himself and said, "Don't worry. We have loads of time,"

Chase tried getting the information he wanted for around ten more minutes until he decided to call it a day. He was beginning to get seriously angry and he didn't want to damage his prisoners too badly. Not while he still needed them. He gave Kingsley orders to watch the two adults and make sure no one came in to the office.

Chase decided to use one of the empty Ministry offices to review his prisoners' capture. He had one of his employees fetch the footage from the surveillance cameras he had installed in the Ministry a few weeks ago. After all, when the Minister himself is your puppet, you can basically do anything you want. His employee brought back the tapes from that day and Chase started pouring through them.

After the first attempted capture of Violet he began doing this, reviewing his plans, trying to pinpoint what went wrong. This time, he realized with a small smile, he would be pinpointing what went right.

Chase spent the rest of the day piecing the story together, the cameras had audio but there were usually so many people in a room that specific voices couldn't be identified. He watched as Fred Weasley arrived in the morning with a man who appeared to be his father. He watched as Fred had his appointment with the Minister, and watched with pleasure as Chase's employees attacked the unsuspecting man. He watched as an unconscious Fred was confided to the chair. He watched as Violet burst into the room and was unceremoniously attacked. He watched the long struggle with nothing short of glee and nearly laughed when he watched Violet too, get tied to a chair.

Chase decided it was unnecessary to watch the portion he was present for, so he decided to go backwards and discover exactly how Violet had gotten there. His employees had assured him that she would arrive when she found out her boyfriend was in danger, but Chase had never found out how she knew. He played tapes backwards and found Violet was already in the Ministry even before his workers had attacked Fred. Chase grew increasingly confused as he traced her appearances back to the Department of Mysteries.

There were so few people in this piece of footage that some of the audio got through.

Chase watched as Fred walked around the archway at the center of the room five or six times and lifted the cloth covering the doorway. The arch emitted a bright white light and seemed to be made of dense, swirling fog.

_ "Merlin," _Fred said.

The man who appeared to be the boy's father stepped out from the shadows_, "George? What are you doing in here?" _

Fred flew around_, "Dad?!" _the audio stumbled at this point.

The father appeared to be saying something that Chase couldn't make out.

_ "Look, we've got bigger problems than that at the moment," _Fred said_, "And I'm not George, I'm Fred."_

Chase was growing increasingly confused, who was George?

"_You boys can't pull that trick anymore, remember? I know you're George, you're missing an ear," _

_ "Well I had to make it look realistic didn't I?" _

The man Chase believed to be Fred pulled out a cell phone and talked for a few minutes before hanging up. The audio failed completely and Chase tried to piece together the story with just the use of the video. Fred took a picture with his phone and supposedly sent it to someone.

After about a minute Fred picked up his phone again for a short few seconds before hanging up. A moment later, Violet appeared. Fred and Violet hugged and had a quick conversation that seemed to be about the veil. Soon the father began talking with the couple and the conversation was quickly over. Chase watched as Fred pointed his wand at his father, said a spell, and watched as the boy's father slumped to the ground.

Violet said something, Fred nodded, and Violet went running off to the Minister's office. Fred although did not. Chase watched as Fred picked up his seemingly unconscious father and carried him up to his office. From there Fred tended to his father for about an hour until he woke up. Then Fred and his father Apparated away.

Chase was greatly confused. He checked the time stamp on the video and concluded that he had been talking to Fred up in the Minister's office at that time. How could one man be in two places at once? Chase began looking through lots of video, and looking at Ministry employee records to piece together a logical story.

Hours later Chase was positively seething with rage. He burst into the Minister's office and strode up to his captive.

Chase pulled a long knife from the waistband of his jeans and pointed it at the man's throat, "You're not Fred Weasley," he growled.

Fear flashed in the man's eyes but before he could speak the doors behind Chase burst open once again.

"No, that would be me," the real Fred Weasley said as he raised his wand and pointed it straight at Chase, "Now get the hell away from my brother,"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note- Reviews are greatly appreciated! Also it says this chapter is in the point of view of Angelina Weasley, for those of you who don't know that's George's wife. She used to be called Angelina Johnson and she went to school with Fred and George.**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does.**

Chapter 4

(Angelina Weasley)

_Previously in our story- _

Hours later Chase was positively seething with rage. He burst into the Minister's office and strode up to his captive.

Chase pulled a long knife from the waistband of his jeans and pointed it at the man's throat, "You're not Fred Weasley," he growled.

Fear flashed in the man's eyes but before he could speak the doors behind Chase burst open once again.

"No, that would be me," the real Fred Weasley said as he raised his wand and pointed it straight at Chase, "Now get the hell away from my brother,"

_A few hours earlier-_

Angelina was starting to get very worried. George should've returned from his appointment with the Minister ages ago. He hadn't sent an owl saying he would be late, so where was he? Angelina paced through her house and decided if George didn't show up within the next hour she would visit Arthur and see if he knew where her husband had gotten off too.

o0O0o

Angelina spent the next hour worrying like crazy. George didn't usually come home late from work so Angelina wasn't used to worrying about things like this. When the hour was up she pulled on a cloak and grabbed some Floo powder. She strode into the fireplace, said "The Burrow," and felt the familiar sensation of magical transport.

She arrived in her husband's family home to find a very surprised looking Mrs. Weasley. "Hi mum," she said, trying not to sound worried, "Is Arthur here?"

Mrs. Weasley looked a bit flustered at the sudden appearance but composed herself quickly, "Yes dear, he's laying down on the couch, why?"

"George hasn't come home yet, and he didn't send an owl saying he'd be late. I was wondering if Arthur knew where he was,"

"Well I'm not sure how much help he'll be, he took a nasty fall at the Ministry earlier and he can't remember much of what happened today,"

"Really? Is he alright?" Angelina asked, concern for her father-in-law momentarily replacing the concern for her husband.

"Oh he's fine. It was lucky George was there though, he brought Arthur home early,"

"George was here? When?"

"About two o'clock I believe, we had tea and he left at around three,"

"Do you know where he went?"

"Can't say that I do dear, Arthur might though,"

The two women walked into the living room to find a very disheveled looking Arthur laying on the couch.

"Arthur, honey, how are you feeling?" Mrs. Weasley asked her husband.

"Better, thank you. Angelina, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you know where George is? He hasn't come home yet," Angelina said, worry rising up insider of her.

"No I can't say I do. The last I saw him was when he left earlier,"

"Did he say anything about having to go somewhere?"

"Not that I remember," seeing the deflated look Angelina gave him he continued, "I'm really sorry but I don't remember hardly anything of what happened today,"

"That's alright," Angelina was at a loss of what to do next.

Her mother-in-law saw the deflated look Angelina had on and suggested kindly, "Would you like a cup of tea dear?"

Angelina gave a weak smile, "Sure"

The two women sat in armchairs next to Arthur and drank their tea in silence.

"Maybe you should go check with Fred, see if he has any idea where George is," suggested Mrs. Weasley.

Angelina thought this was a good idea so she drained her cup of tea and said goodbye to her in-laws. She used the Floo to travel to Fred's apartment.

Fred lived alone in a small apartment in London. Angelina had always thought the place seemed nice enough, but she secretly hoped Fred would get a house soon. Apartments seemed temporary; Fred deserved a place he could call home. She arrived in the fireplace of her brother-in-law's place and looked around.

"Fred?" she called to the seemingly empty apartment.

"Angelina?" Fred asked, stepping out from his bedroom, "What are you doing here?"

Fred was dressed in a very odd outfit. He was wearing Muggle clothing; he had on blue jeans and a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head.

Angelina ignored her brother-in-law's strange choice of dress and continued on, "I was wondering if you know where George is? He didn't come home after his appointment with the Minister,"

"He didn't?" Fred asked, concern in his voice.

"No,"

Fred looked very worried now, "I don't know where he is. Has anyone seen him since the Ministry appointment?"

"Arthur said he fell at the Ministry earlier and George brought him home,"

"Okay, just hold on a second Angelina, I have to check something,"

Fred pulled out a cell phone and began to dial. Angelina was confused by this, George didn't have a cell phone, no one she knew did, so who was Fred calling? The phone rang for several minutes, with Fred looking increasingly nervous as time went by.

Angelina could tell the call had gone to voicemail by the way Fred hung up.

He looked extremely nervous as he turned to Angelina and said, "I think something's wrong,"

"What do you mean by that?" Angelina said, now getting more worried herself.

Fred sighed, "I'm not sure. It could be just a hunch, but I think George's in trouble,"

"What kind of trouble?"

"The bad kind. I'm going to find him," Fred said as he began strolling to the fireplace.

"What? Look Fred, he's my husband, if he's in trouble I'm going too," she said determinedly.

Fred looked at the resolve on her face and sighed, "Angelina if you want to come you need to trust me. Okay? You probably won't have a clue what's going on most of the time but I will, so you need to promise me you'll do what I say when I say it and that you won't ask questions,"

"Why do you know what's going on and I don't? He's my husband. I should know what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into,"

"This isn't about him Angelina, it's about me. I'm the one they really want,"

"Who's they? Fred what is going on?" Angelina asked desperately.

Fred sighed again, "That's a question. Actually it's two. So, do you trust me or not?"

Angelina looked at Fred. Her friend. The boy she went to Hogwarts with. The boy she went to the Yule ball with. The boy she had briefly dated. The boy she had rejected only to marry his brother. The man she was so afraid she had hurt. Fred Weasley, her brother-in-law, the man that George was convinced had a secret. Angelina could have mulled over her thoughts for hours but she didn't need to. She simply looked into the man's eyes.

She stared into the eyes of a man she never thought could look so serious and said, "Yes, I trust you,"

Fred nodded and began walking to the fireplace, "Good, come on then,"

Fred stopped in his tracks, "Oh, one more thing," and he pulled down the hood of his sweatshirt.

Angelina gasped, "Fred? What happened?"

Fred Weasley was now truly identical to his brother because he was now missing an ear too.

"I'll explain later, I just wanted you to see so you wouldn't freak out later, come on, let's go,"

He grabbed a handful of Floo powder, said, "The Ministry of Magic," and was gone.

Angelina repeated the process and arrived in the nearly empty Atrium. Most of the employees were either leaving or would already be at home by now. Fred took Angelina's hand and the two began practically running through the Ministry.

"Where are we going?" she said breathlessly.

Fred pulled them to a stop in a corner, "The Minister's office, I would highly suggest taking out your wand, you're gonna need it. And don't be afraid to fight Kingsley, he's under the Imperius Curse,"

Imperius Curse? If that was true then this situation was much more serious than Angelina had originally thought. Fred grabbed her hand and they set off again. When they reached the office the guard wasn't there. Angelina could hear a man inside the room growl, "You're not Fred Weasley,"

Fred and Angelina burst into the room. With one sweep of her eyes Angelina took in the scene. Kingsley sat behind his desk. A woman was tied to a chair in the middle of the room and seemed to be covered in many small injuries. On the other side of the room was George. He too was tied to a chair and was covered in blood. A man in his early twenties stood above George, pointing a knife at his throat.

"No, that would be me," Fred said as he raised his wand and pointed it straight at the man, "Now get the hell away from my brother,"

Angelina watched as Fred cast a silent spell that knocked the man into the wall behind him.

"GET THEM!" the man shouted from his position on the floor.

"Fight Kingsley!" Fred said, and ran towards the man.

Angelina looked up just in time to doge a stunning spell from Kingsley. Angelina quickly sent many back at the Minister. Spell after spell was cast and dogged as the two wizards dueled. Somewhere in the back of her mind Angelina wondered how Fred was doing but she knew as soon as she turned to check she would be a goner. It's not that she was bad at dueling, she was in fact better than most anyone her age, but Kingsley was better. And while Angelina was just trying to stun the Minister, he seemed to be perfectly fine with killing her.

With a very advanced move, Kingsley managed to disarm Angelina and she knew she was done for. She couldn't fight without a wand. She could doge for a while but there's no telling how long she'd last. Just as Kingsley raised his wand Fred tackled the Minister to the ground. Fred tossed his own wand to Angelina who stared at it. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't attack Kingsley without the risk of hitting Fred.

"ANGELINA BEHIND YOU!" George shouted from his chair.

She spun around to see the man with the knife running towards her. She flicked Fred's wand and yelled, _"Stupefy!"_

The man collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Angelina ran over to where George was tied to the chair.

"Are you hurt?" George asked her.

"Not as bad as you seem to be," she replied, trying not to cry. Her husband was bleeding heavily from an oddly disfigured nose and had blood running out from under his hair.

"I'm fine," he lied.

"No, you're not, just let me get you out of these," she said, examining the ropes he was tied up with. The ropes were very thick and the knots were clearly tied by an expert. Angelina tried undoing the complex knots and failed miserably. She didn't know of any spells that untied knots so she was pretty much at a loss.

"Angelina, go help Fred. You can come back for me," George told her.

She nodded and ran towards where Fred and Kingsley were still struggling on the floor.

"Fred move!" she shouted.

Fred leapt up just as Angelina sent a stunning spell at the Minister. The spell connected and Kingsley too was lying on the floor unconscious.

Fred looked back and forth between George and the woman before coming to a quick decision and rushing towards George. Fred pulled a knife out from the waistband of his jeans and started to saw through the ropes around George. He finished quickly and went to help the woman. Angelina helped her husband up and they followed.

"Are you alright?" Fred asked as he helped free the woman.

"I'm fine," she said, "You two should find your own wands,"

Angelina gave Fred back his and went to find her own. She collected it from under the desk where it had rolled when Kingsley had disarmed her. She also picked up Kingsley's wand and hid it behind a bookcase. Just to be safe.

"Angelina, George's wand is in the desk, top drawer on the left side," the woman told her.

Angelina didn't question how this woman knew her name but instead went to get her husband's wand. Once she had retrieved it she went back to where the woman and Fred were standing next to George. Angelina handed her husband his wand and slipped her hand comfortingly into his.

"Violet, we need to get out of here," Fred said nervously.

"I know, let me take care of your brother first," the woman replied, "George take my hands,"

He did so without question and the woman closed her eyes. Angelina watched with amazement as George healed before her eyes. His nose straightened itself out and stopped bleeding. The blood dripping from his hair stooped also. Angelina wasn't entirely sure how the woman was doing this, seeing as she wasn't holding a wand, but she was more concerned with George's well-being at the moment to care enough to ask.

"Alright open your eyes and look at me," she said.

George complied and the woman looked into his eyes intently.

"Your pupils are different sizes," she stated.

"What does that mean?" Angelina asked.

The woman ignored her, "George, did you get hit on the head?"

"I think so. I'm pretty sure that's how I got knocked out," he said confusedly.

"Alright. You have a minor concussion. With a little rest you should be fine," she said.

"Can't you fix his concussion? Like you did with his nose?" Angelina asked, voice filled with concern.

"I don't try healing brain injuries. It would probably do more harm than good,"

"Okay," she said uncertainly.

The woman closed her eyes and Angelina could see her visible cuts seal themselves together.

She blinked open her eyes, "You're not hurt, are you?" she asked Fred and Angelina.

Both persons shook their heads.

"Okay, Fred can you clean your brother up a bit?" she asked.

Fred nodded and preformed a cleaning spell on George. Once all the blood was gone Angelina had to admit he didn't look that bad. His eyes were still a bit unfocused and his clothes were torn but he wasn't bleeding any more. Fred cleaned up the woman next.

"Alright, Fred I'm gonna need that sweatshirt your wearing," the woman said.

Fred took off the jacket and handed it to the woman without question. She pulled it on over her shirt and started to put her hair up in a ponytail.

"Fred, I'll go collect the kids," she said.

"I don't think that's a very good idea. They don't exactly know who you are and I'm not sure they'd be too keen to leave school and follow a mysterious stranger. I can get them," Fred replied.

"You, George and Angelina are going to round up the rest of the adults. I'll be fastest to get the kids, I can Floo to Hogsmeade and fly to the castle from there," she finished fixing her hair and turned to Angelina, "I don't look too bad, do I?"

Now that she was standing up and wasn't hurt, Angelina had to admit the woman looked very good. She seemed to be around Angelina's own age and was very attractive. The sweatshirt from Fred covered up her torn clothing and her eyes weren't unfocused like George's.

"You look pretty normal,"

"Great. Okay, George, Angelina, we're gonna need your help," she said looking at the couple.

"We'll help you as soon as you tell us what in Merlin's name is going on!" George said angrily.

Angelina put a hand on her husband's shoulder, "No, we'll help them now," she said thinking of her promise to Fred, "What do you need?"

"Angelina you're going to Apparate, Floo, however you want really, but go and collect Harry, Ginny, Percy, Audrey, Arthur, Molly, Ron, and Hermione and bring them to Grimmauld Place,"

"Grimmauld Place? That's not exactly safe, Violet," Fred said.

"You have a better idea?" she asked.

Fred shook his head.

"Ok, Angelina get them there as fast as possible and don't let them bring anything other than the clothes on their backs and wands, okay?"

"Sure,"

"Good, George you're still hurt. I want you to go to Grimmauld Place and just lie down for a bit,"

George looked confused but nodded anyway.

"Fred you're getting Bill, Fleur, Molly, Teddy, Victoire, Dominique and Louis,"

Fred nodded.

"Alright, now the most important thing is that you don't tell them what happened here. I don't want to worry them until Fred and I can fully explain what's going on,"

Angelina and George nodded reluctantly.

"Okay, see you soon," and the woman Angelina still didn't know grabbed a handful of Floo powder said "Hogsmeade" and disappeared in the Minister's fireplace.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note- Reviews would be great!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 5

(Lily Luna Potter)

Herbology is Lily Luna Potter's least favorite class. She strongly believed that Herbology had no practical applications and was, essentially, a waste of 's these beliefs that cause the young Gryffindor to nearly fall asleep at least once every class.

The fact that Professor Longbottom teaches the subject makes it a bit easier for Lily to bear, but it also makes her sad that he wastes his talents on such a useless subject. Neville had always been one of her favorites out of her parent's friends. He told the best stories and actually treated Lily like she had some brains which was something her parents rarely did.

It wasn't fair. Her parents treat her like she can't even walk down the street alone when Lily knew from stories that when her father was 14 he was in the Triwizard Tournament!

"Ms. Potter! You're supposed to be collecting bubotuber pus!" Professor Longbottom scolded from his desk.

Lily sent him one of her signature glares. Neville sighed and came up to Lily at her desk.

"You know, it makes me really sad that you hate my class so much," he told her quietly.

"Neville-"

"Professor Longbottom," he reminded.

Lily sighed, "Professor, I don't _hate _your class, it's just, there are so many other classes that are more interesting! I mean when are you ever going to need this information in real life?"

"I've told you how the school used mandrakes to brew a potion that cured petrified students in my second year. Without Herbology, you're Aunt Hermione could've been petrified forever," he said seriously.

"Okay, so there are some benefits, but I mean what's the use of bubotuber pus?"

"Well, if you payed attention in my class you'd know, wouldn't you?" Neville smiled, "Try and get something done, please," and walked back to his desk.

Lily found herself wishing, not for the first time that day, that she were still on break. This was the students first week back from the spring holidays and Lily was already annoyed at the amount of homework that had been assigned.

Lily was a good student. She never got in trouble, she did all of her assignments on time, and always raised her hand in class. But regardless of these facts, she still didn't like getting homework. Her cousin Hugo did, but he was definitely weird, as far as normal fourteen year olds go. Lily's favorite class was Charms and the only subject she did even remotely bad in was Herbology. She had many close friends and loved being a wizard.

The class dragged on and Lily wished there were a clock in the room, just to make sure time actually was moving foreword. Suddenly, and very unexpectedly, a woman burst through the greenhouse doors. The woman was around her parent's age and dressed in Muggle clothing. She strode purposefully through the greenhouse to where Professor Longbottom sat at his desk.

Neville rose, "Excuse me, but might I ask, who are you?"

"You're Neville Longbottom?" the woman replied.

"Yes, I am Professor Longbottom,"

The woman leaned closer to Neville and whispered something Lily couldn't make out.

"And what evidence do you have of this?" he asked.

"I don't have any,"

"Then I cannot permit you to take a student from my class without permission from the Headmaster,"

"What? But I need her now," the woman started.

"I'm sorry but you'll need permission from the Headmaster,"

"This is serious. She's in danger!"

"Professor?" Lily interrupted.

"Not now Ms. Potter," Neville snapped.

"Professor!" Lily raised a hand and pointed out the window, "Look!"

Striding down the grass towards the greenhouse were two men in some very odd outfits. They were wearing all black with only their faces uncovered. They vaguely reminded Lily of something she had read about in a Muggle children's book. Weren't they called ninjas?

"What on earth?" Neville said.

"Merlin," the woman whispered, "Okay! Kids I need you all to line up by the walls," she said loudly.

The Gryffindor forth years looked at their teacher questioningly.

Neville gave the woman a calculating look then said, "Do as she says,"

The students scrambled to get out of their seats and line up next to the wall. The woman told the Professor to do something and with a wave of his wand the rectangular tables from the center of the room disappeared. Neville pointed his wand at each of the two lines of students and muttered a spell.

Lily cautiously reached out a hand and was greeted with an invisible wall about two feet in front of her. Many students around her began to do the same and Lily could see the other line on the far side of the room mirror them. With a bit more investigating Lily concluded the barrier was very strong but had no effect on hearing and was completely invisible. She also discovered the barrier stretched down the length of students, started around her ankles and ended somewhere above her head.

"Whatever you do, don't talk to them and don't try using magic on them!" the woman commanded.

She hurriedly told something to Neville who nodded and crouched behind his desk. The woman sat on top of the desk and waited. A second later the two men entered the room.

They quickly surveyed the scene, "Give us the girl, and we won't hurt you," one of the men said.

Several girls shrieked at this but Lily was a bit too confused to react.

The woman slid off the desk and started advancing towards the men, "Sorry, but your boss already hurt someone I care about once today, and I'm not gonna let him hurt anyone else,"

Lily watched as many things happened at once. Neville stood up from behind his desk, shouted, _"Stupefy!" _and the man it was aimed at dodged. The woman and other man rushed at each other and began furiously throwing punches at each other.

Neville continued to shoot spells at the man who continued to dodge. The other man had produced a knife from somewhere and started launching an even more furious attack at the mysterious woman.

Lily felt helpless; she couldn't just stand here and watch as people were getting hurt. Lily thought quickly, she could - no, she couldn't do that, not in front of all these people. And what help would a bunch of small stones be in this situation?

So what did she have? The woman said not to use magic so that was out of the question. Lily was unsure as to why but she felt that this woman was trustworthy. The two men didn't appear to be wizards, seeing as they didn't have wands, but they were extremely good fighters. The woman had already been cut at least once. And poor Neville was circling the other man continually casting spells that the man always managed to dodge. Lily didn't even want to think what would happen if the man managed to get to her Professor.

Lily glanced around the room. She was in a Herbology classroom. Great, the subject that had no value in the real world. Lily thought quickly, something in this room had to be able to be used as a weapon! Her eyes rested on a group of plants sitting in the corner of the room to her left.

Mandrakes. Young mandrakes. Lily remembered studying them in second year. One of her classmates had forgotten to put on his earmuffs and had been knocked out from the mandrakes' screaming. This was exactly what she needed.

Lily scanned the room until she saw the bucket of spare earmuffs. The only problem was that they were on the other side of the room. Normally this wouldn't be a problem because Lily already learned summoning spells, but if any of those men noticed she would be in serious trouble. Lily took another glance at the small battle and decided it was worth the risk. She slowly sunk down till she was peeking out from the crack under the invisible wall. She pulled out her wand, muttered, _"Accio earmuffs"_ and the box rushed towards her. She managed to get the box under the wall without any of the adults noticing. She lifted up the box and started to pass earmuffs down the line of students. Many students gave her questioning looks but she just motioned for them to put the earmuffs on and they complied.

Once Lily had managed to get every student in her line to put on earmuffs she tried getting the attention of someone from the line opposite her. This wasn't hard considering they were already staring at her odd behavior. Lily caught the eye of one of her friends directly opposite and motioned to show she was going to slide the box to them. Lily took two extra pairs out of the box then checked to make sure no adults were looking and slid the box along the floor to her friend. Her friend caught it and began passing out earmuffs to her line.

Luckily Lily was already pretty close to the young mandrakes so she only needed to duck around only a few people before stepping out from behind the end of the barrier. She ran quickly to the table with the mandrakes and ducked behind it. She couldn't uproot the mandrake until the woman and Neville had earmuffs on so Lily waited for an opportunity. Once all of the students including herself had earmuffs on she knew it was time to risk it.

"Professor!" she yelled.

Neville sent a flurry of spells that managed to distract the mysterious man and he looked up in time for Lily to throw the earmuffs at him. Neville caught them and hurriedly put them on before he was forced to continue casting spells at the man.

The last and biggest problem with her plan was that she didn't know how to get the woman's attention. The woman had never said her name and Lily wasn't sure calling out "Hey you!" would be effective. Lily thought hard for a minute, coming up with a plan.

Lily pointed her wand at the lone pair of earmuffs and muttered "_Wingardium Leviosa_" and proceeded to float the earmuffs over the heads of Neville, the two men in black, and over to the mysterious woman.

The woman took a moment to notice the floating earmuffs and when she did she gave the man she was fighting a particularly hard punch to the gut which sent his sprawling on the floor. With the man distracted she snatched the earmuffs out of the air and hurriedly put them on. The man sprang up and the duo resumed fighting.

Lily quickly scanned the room again to ensure that everyone but her targets had earmuffs on and, satisfied, placed her hand on the green sprouts, grasped firmly like she'd been taught, and pulled.

The young mandrake let out a long high pitched scream and nearly every student involuntary pressed their earmuffs closer to their ears. The two men immediately slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Lily quickly moved the mandrake to an empty pot and hurriedly dumped dirt over it. The crying ended and students began to cautiously remove their earmuffs.

"Who said Herbology was boring?" Neville asked with a happy twinkle in his eye.

Lily smiled, "Touché"

"That was brilliant!" the woman said with a wide smile.

"Thanks," Lily said, happy with herself.

The woman cast a final smile at her then turned to the Professor, suddenly serious, "Do you believe me now?"

"Yes, take her and go up to the school to get her relatives. And you really might want to tell the Headmaster what's going on," Neville said.

"Thank you Professor,"

Lily thought Neville liked the woman too because he smiled and replied, "Neville,"

The woman smiled too, "Thank you Neville. Now once I take her you and your students should return to class as usual, no one should bother you if she's with me."

"Alright,"

Lily thought they had forgotten something, "Um, you do realize there are two unconscious men still lying on the floor?" she said, addressing the adults.

"It seems you're right," the woman said as she knelt down beside one of them.

She pulled the man's sleeve up to reveal a clunky blue bracelet. The bracelet had many large dials on it which the woman began to turn quickly.

"What are you doing?" asked Neville.

"I believe I'm sending them to Kansas,"

"As in… America?"

"Do you know of any other Kansas's?"

"Well no, but why?"

"I don't think you'd fancy them waking up here and Kansas's just far enough away,"

Neville considered this statement and shrugged, "Alright,"

The woman finished setting the dials and pressed a large blue button on the bracelet. The man disappeared in a small puff of smoke. She walked over to the other unconscious man and repeated the process.

"Ok, Professor would you like to announce which of your very confused students gets to come with me?" she said, standing up.

"Lily," Neville said as he turned to face her, "Would you please go with Violet?"

Lily was flustered. Her? Those men were here for her? What did they want her for? At least she now knew the woman's name was Violet.

"M-me?" she stuttered.

Neville walked up to her and whispered gently, "Go with Violet, I promise you'll be safe,"

Lily was conflicted, she trusted Neville and inexplicably, this woman. But, she was just a fourth year! She didn't even know what was going on! Lily looked from Neville's face to the woman's and back again.

"Okay," she said simply.

"Follow me please," the woman said as she walked out of the greenhouse.

Lily ran a bit to catch up and walked alongside the woman up to the castle, "Who are you?" she asked when the curiosity became unbearable.

The woman stopped suddenly and looked down at the younger girl.

She placed a hand on Lily's shoulder and began talking quickly, "My name is Violet, and I'm a friend of your Uncle Fred's. You and the rest of your family are in danger, I'm here to help. We need to go find the rest of your siblings and your cousins, but I don't want to scare them so I need you to do me a favor. Could you not mention what just happened back there?"

Lily considered this and nodded.

Violet smiled, "You really were brilliant you know,"

Violet stepped away from Lily and began the long walk up to the school.

"If you're trying not to freak my family out, you might want to do something about the cut on your face," Lily said.

The woman smiled again, "Good thinking, thanks,"

Lily glanced sideways at Violet and saw the long gash on her check meld back together, "How did you do that?" she asked in amazement.

Violet glanced at her, "Magic," she said mysteriously.

The two walked up to the school briskly and Lily followed the woman inside.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked.

"Headmaster's office,"

"Oh, I'm sorry but I don't know where that is," Lily had gone to the school for four years and prided herself on the fact she'd never had to visit the Headmaster.

"That's alright, I know where it is," Violet replied.

"Did you go to Hogwarts?" Lily asked. If Violet had, why didn't she duel the men in black like Neville?

Violet replied dreamily, "Yes, I went to Hogwarts once. A long, long time ago,"

The two women rounded the corner and came face to face with a large gargoyle.

"Password?" the gargoyle asked.

"Umm," Violet started.

"Giant Squid," Lily said.

The gargoyle turned around revealing a large moving staircase. The two women stepped on a stair and waited as the stairs took them up to their destination.

"I thought you said you hadn't been here before," Violet questioned.

"I haven't," Lily said.

"Then how did you know the password?"

"When your brother is James Potter, infamous prankster, you learn certain things," Lily said mischievously.

The stairs stopped and Violet knocked on the door loudly.

"Come in," was the soft reply.

Violet opened the door and Lily stepped inside the Headmaster's office for the first time. The room was filled with shelves and shelves of books. The portraits of Headmaster's past stared at her as she entered and in the center of the room, behind a large desk, sat the Headmaster himself.

Headmaster Reed Fuller was a rather tall man with graying hair. He had a kind presence and was a good Headmaster. He was a man who kids weren't afraid of and Lily always thought that was a good quality. He was constantly seen walking amongst the school ground and most of the Professors seemed to like him. Lily had never personally talked to the man but she always thought he seemed nice.

"Hello," he said, completely unfazed by the presence of a mysterious woman and student in his office, "May I help you?"

"Yes, I need to remove all students related to Fred Weasley from the school immediately," Violet said quickly.

"Before I address your request, might I ask, who you are?" the Headmaster asked calmly.

"My name is Violet Thompson, I was a student at Hogwarts many years ago,"

"Do you have any proof of that?"

One of the portraits cleared his throat, "I believe I can attest to that Reed. Violet was one of my pupils when I was Headmaster," Lily recognized the portrait as Albus Dumbledore's, the man her brother was named after.

Fuller spoke again, "Alright, but why might I ask do you want to take my students?"

"They're in danger," Violet said simply.

"Only the students related to Fred Weasley?"

"Yes,"

"And what proof do you have of this?" the Headmaster asked kindly.

Violet sighed, "None at the moment, but if you check with Professor Longbottom I'm sure he'd verify my claims,"

"I will certainly do that but for now I'd appreciate if you'd leave my school,"

"I can't leave without them. They're in danger, and as long as they're here they're putting the rest of your school in danger too,"

The Headmaster sighed, "How did you get into my school in the first place?"

Violet smiled, "I have my ways,"

The Headmaster sighed once again.

"Reed, I too know Ms. Thompson and I can personally say you will never understand her, or her abilities, so I suggest you give up trying," this came from the portrait of the other man her brother was named after, Severus Snape.

"How many of you know this woman?" Fuller asked the portraits.

Dumbledore, Snape and another portrait Lily recognized as Minerva McGonagall all raised their hands.

Fuller considered them and asked, "Do you trust this woman?"

Dumbledore and McGonagall both instantly replied, "With my life,"

Snape silently considered the woman.

"Hey Sev," Violet said sadly.

Snape sighed, "Yes. I trust her," he said.

"You just got recommendations from three of my portraits, not many people could do that. But you're still not a family member. Lily, it is Lily correct?"

Lily nodded, a bit surprised he knew her name.

"Do you know this woman?"

Lily briefly considered lying but knew it would be no use in the presence of so many wise headmasters, "I met her about half an hour ago sir,"

"Do you trust her?"

"Yes," she said immediately.

"I believe you," he said after a long pause, "You can take the children. Do you have any idea when they will be back?"

"Not in the slightest," Violet replied.

Fuller chuckled, "At least you're honest. What should I tell the school when a handful of students go missing without so much as a goodbye to their friends?"

"The truth. There was a family emergency," Violet said simply.

"Fair enough, dinner is starting; most of your children should be in the Great Hall. I will accompany you to collect them,"

"Thank you,"

They followed the Headmaster out of his office, down the stairs, and farther and farther into the school until they reached the Great Hall. The group of three walked into the room and Lily could immediately tell they were late. Hundreds and hundreds of faces stared at the odd group as they made their way through the Hall. Lily knew the story of the greenhouse must've already spread, she just hoped none of her relatives had heard. Violet and Lily stood in front of the teacher's table while Headmaster Fuller went to the podium to make the announcement.

"I apologize for the interruption but if I could have any student related to Fred Weasley come up here immediately," he said.

The silence was very awkward as her brothers James and Albus and her cousins Hugo, Lucy, Finn, Roxanne and Rose stood up and made their way to the front of the Hall.

"Thank you, you may continue with your dinner now," he told the rest of the students.

"Please follow me," the Headmaster said to the group of relatives as he began walking out of the Hall.

Lily and her family followed, trying to avoid the stares people were giving them.

The Headmaster closed the doors to the Great Hall behind him and turned to face the group, "Children this is Violet, she's going to be taking you home,"

"What?" exclaimed James, "Is there something wrong?"

"Is Uncle Fred hurt?" asked Lucy.

"No, no, Fred's fine, everyone is fine. We just need to take you all out of school for a bit okay?" Violet said.

"And who are you?" James replied.

"My name is Violet and I'm a friend of Fred's,"

"Guys just listen to her," Lily cut in.

Surprisingly, the other kids shut up and the Headmaster began again, "Feel free to use my office's fireplace, it is the only place in Hogwarts that's connected to the Floo network,"

"Thank you Headmaster," Violet said.

"You're most welcome. And good luck," he said and disappeared back into the Great Hall.

"Follow me please," Violet said and set off towards the Headmaster's office.

The group walked back up to the Headmaster's office where the gargoyle questioned them again, Violet replied "Giant Squid," and was allowed entry to the office.

"Where are we going?" Albus asked.

"Grimmauld place," Violet replied.

Lily knew her father owned 12 Grimmauld Place although she had never visited it. Her father visited the house once every few years just to make sure nothing truly horrible had happened to it. Lily remembered asking her father once why he didn't just get rid of the house and he had said he kept it for sentimental reasons.

"Who wants to go first?" Violet asked.

Albus stepped foreword nervously, "What do I say? I mean is it just 'Grimmauld Place' or should I say 'Number Twelve Grimmauld Place'?"

"I would go with 'Number Twelve Grimmauld Place',"

Albus nodded and left. Lily watched all of her various family leave then Violet urged her to go. Lily picked up a handful of Floo powder said "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place" and stepped into the fireplace.

When Lily arrived in Grimmauld Place's fireplace it was definitely not what she was expecting. She was in a very dusty kitchen with a large table sitting in the middle of the room. The house looked very old and it clearly hadn't been used in years. But it wasn't just the houses' appearance that surprised Lily. Her parents, all of her aunts, uncles, cousins, and even her grandparents were in the kitchen staring daggers at Fred.

Lily moved out of the fireplace and just in time too, because as soon as she was gone Violet appeared. The whole room turned to look at the woman in the fireplace.

"And who exactly are you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note- In order to better understand this chapter, it might be helpful to re-read the chapter in the seventh book called 'The Prince's Tale'. **

**Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 6

(Harry Potter)

Harry Potter was very confused. And very annoyed. Harry had been having a nice dinner with Ginny at home when Angelina had Apparated into their kitchen. She then proceeded to drag the couple off to Grimmauld place without even saying 'hello'. Harry and Ginny had been the first to arrive and watched with confusion as Ron, Hermione, Arthur, Molly, Bill, Fleur, Percy, Audrey, Molly, Teddy, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis all arrived, either by Apparation or by the Floo.

None of the newcomers seemed to have any idea what was going on either. Apparently they had been told to come to Grimmauld Place by Angelina or Fred.

Angelina walked out of the fireplace looking very flustered.

"Angelina Weasley, I want to know what on earth is going on right now!" asked a very angry looking Mrs. Weasley, speaking on behalf of the group.

"Where's George?" she said, ignoring the question.

"Right here," George said from the chair he was sitting in.

Angelina rushed over to her husband, "Are you alright?"

George nodded.

"Why wouldn't he be alright?" Harry asked.

Fred too came out of the fireplace, "George slipped and hit his head earlier today, didn't you George?"

George nodded hesitantly.

"Angelina, you never answered my question. What's going on?" Mrs. Weasley repeated.

"She doesn't know what's going on mum," Fred said.

"And you do?"

"Yes,"

"Well then, I think we deserve an explanation!" she said angyrily.

Many of the adults muttered agreement.

"And you'll get an explanation, just as soon as everyone is here," Fred said calmly.

"Who else is coming?" Bill asked.

At that moment a very flustered looking Albus Potter appeared in the fireplace.

"Al!" Harry exclaimed.

"Hey Dad," he said, stepping out from the fireplace.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in school!" Harry exclaimed.

"Violet came to get us," he said.

"Who's Violet?"

Just then, Lucy appeared in the same fireplace.

"Lucy!" exclaimed Percy.

"Did you take all of our children out of school?" asked a very angry Hermione.

"Yes," Fred replied calmly.

"You had no right to do that without our permission!" Ginny said crossly.

More and more kids came through the fireplace and Albus tried to help the situation, "The Headmaster did give us permission to leave,"

"He had no right to let you all leave without us being there!" said Ginny.

"Who came to get you anyway?" asked Bill, who seemed to be the only parent who was even remotely calm.

Once Lily had appeared and moved out of the fireplace, another woman took her place.

The woman was around Fred's age, she had long black hair and bright grey eyes.

"And who exactly are you?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

The woman looked quiet nervous, "Fred?"

Fred smiled but Harry could tell he too was nervous, "Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Violet," he paused, "my girlfriend,"

"What!?" many people in the room shouted.

Violet smiled shyly.

Fred smiled, "I'm pretty sure you heard me,"

George seemed to be the most shocked by this news, "How did you meet? When did you meet? How long have you two been dating? How old is she? Is she a wizard?" all came out in a rush.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Fred said with an amused smile.

"No offense Violet, I'm sure you're a lovely person, but is that what you brought us all here for?" Percy said.

"Yes, and no," said Fred, "I mean that's not why I brought you here, but I thought you'd like to know who she is,"

"So why did you bring us all here?" Louis asked.

Fred sighed, "I need you all to stay here for a few days,"

"Why?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"I… Can't tell you,"

"Fred, we can't just stay here for a few days. I mean, we have lives. All of us adults have jobs, and the kids really should be in school," said Audrey kindly.

From the looks on the adult's faces they all had been thinking along those same lines.

Fred ran an exasperated hand through his hair.

Mrs. Weasley gasped, "Fred! What happened to your ear?"

Most of the adults had been too preoccupied to notice this earlier, but it was true, Fred's ear was missing.

"Oh that? That's nothing. I was experimenting with some potions for the joke shop. I was trying to brew one that could make a person invisible but I haven't worked out all the kinks yet. The ear should come back at some point,"

"If you say so," Mrs. Weasley said uncertainly.

Fred sighed, "I just need you all to trust me on this. Please stay here,"

"Fred, we're wizards, we can take care of ourselves," Harry replied.

Violet quietly said, "Your parents would've stayed,"

Harry looked up in shock, "Excuse me?"

"If someone they cared about told them to stay they would've without question,"

Harry looked at the woman more carefully. She couldn't have been more than a few years older than Harry himself, "You don't know what my parents would've done," he snapped.

"And you do?" she asked.

Harry stood up quickly, knocking his chair over in the process, "We're leaving," he told his family.

Ginny, Albus, and James all stood up too.

"Come on Lily," he told his daughter.

"No,"

"What?"

"I'm staying," she said defiantly.

"Someone inherited her grandmother's brains," Violet said.

"Stop talking about my parents!" said Harry, "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"You certainly inherited James's temper," Violet said calmly.

"Stop it! You didn't know them! Stop acting like you cared about them!" Harry shouted.

Violet stood up quickly, glaring at Harry over the table, "I cared about them more than you will ever know,"

Harry was convinced this woman was lying. She wasn't even old enough to have known his parents.

"Oh yah? Then where were you when they died?"

Something shifted in Violet and Harry knew somehow he had gone too far. Violet stared at Harry with a dangerous look in her eyes and a tiny ball of light started to grow in front of her. It took only a second for it to reach the size of a tennis ball and Violet needed only to flick her wrist before the ball was zooming towards Harry. He didn't have time to move before it hit in square in the chest and everything went black.

o0O0o

Harry didn't remember waking up. One minute he was staring at a bright light coming to meet him and the next he was walking. And he was tired, so very tired. It was a miracle he was still moving. It wasn't just a physical tired either, it was everything; his head, his thoughts, his body all felt exhausted. He just wanted a place to rest. But some small part of his mind kept working and that small part couldn't figure out why he was so tired.

He realized with a jolt that those thoughts, the tired ones, weren't his. He wasn't in his own body. This was Violet's. It was like being in a Pensieve, seeing another person's memory. But this was different. He was seeing Violet's memory through her own eyes, and he could feel whatever she was feeling. And he knew Violet was old, so very old and so very tired.

They were walking down a long corridor with large archways on either side of them. The scene to his left was a large battlefield. Blood spilled everywhere as ancient warriors drove long swords into each other's bodies. Violet turned at looked at the scene to her right. It was a city, a busy, modern city. Violet felt hopeless. Wasn't there any place in the world they could just rest?

But somehow they kept moving and the two walked a little farther until they found it. The archway to their left showed a meadow. A beautiful green meadow, filled to the brim with flowers. Harry wasn't sure how but Violet changed from being a full grown adult back into a small child, no older than eight. A tiny glimmer of hope flooded through them and they stepped into the peaceful scene.

This time it was more like a Pensieve. Harry was in his own body now but he still could feel bits and pieces of what Violet was feeling. Harry stood in the meadow he had entered earlier and knew time had passed. It was early fall and leaves littered the ground. Harry watched as the eight year old Violet walked around the large meadow and found a quiet place to sit. Harry sat next to her and waited. Violet leaned down and plucked a lone flower from the ground. She twirled it in her hands absentmindedly.

Someone plopped down next to Violet and she jumped slightly.

"Hello," said the young boy. He must've been around the same age as Violet. He had messy, black hair and was wearing glasses. It took Harry a couple of seconds but he guessed this boy was a very young version of his father.

"Hi," Violet said quietly.

The boy stuck out his hand, "I'm James,"

Violet tentatively shook the boy's hand.

"What's your name?" he asked.

Harry could tell what Violet was thinking. This could be what she'd always wanted. A new start. If she was going to have a new start, she was going to need a new name. She looked down at the small, purple flower in her hands and said quietly, "Violet,"

"That's a very pretty name," James said, "What are you doing out here?"

"I like it here," she replied softly.

"I've always liked it here too. My house is just over there," he said, pointing to a spot to the group's left, "You should come and visit me sometime," he said and ran off.

The newly declared Violet smiled, maybe she would.

"_Harry,"_

Harry watched as Violet and James sat in the meadow again. This time they were older, ten or eleven.

"James," Violet started, "I have a surprise for you,"

James looked up eagerly, "What is it? Chocolate? A new broom?"

"Where would I get money to buy you a broom?" she said amusedly.

"I don't know. What is it?" James asked.

Violet dug around in the pocket of her jeans for a moment before pulling out a large piece of parchment.

James looked questioningly at the paper then snatched it out of her hand and began to read, "Dear Miss. Thompson we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he stared at Violet with a look of utter glee, "You got a letter!" he screamed and pulled the girl into a hug.

"We're going to Hogwarts!" James yelled.

Violet only laughed.

The next memory was a few months later. Violet was scared, she wasn't able to find James on the platform and now she was walking along the Hogwarts Express alone, looking for an empty compartment. Harry followed close behind.

Violet sighed with relief when she located an empty compartment at the end of the train. She settled in for the long ride and Harry squeezed in next to her.

Someone pulled open the door, "Hello, can we sit with you?" a young girl asked. She had long red hair and eyes the same green as Harry's.

"Sure" Violet replied.

The eleven year old versions of Lily Evans and Severus Snape entered the compartment. From the looks on their faces Harry assumed that they had just come from talking with Sirius and James.

"My name's Lily and this is Severus," Lily said, gesturing to Snape.

"I'm Violet,"

Violet looked at the unhappy faces of the children sitting across from her, "Are you two alright?" she asked.

"We just met some annoying boys," Lily said.

"Oh,"

"What house do you want to be in?" Snape asked, speaking for the first time.

"I don't care really. I'm just glad I'll be at Hogwarts," Violet replied.

Lily smiled, "That's a nice way of looking at things,"

Violet smiled too, "Thanks,"

The next memory was that of a few hours later. The first year students stood in the Great Hall waiting to be Sorted. Most students had already been Sorted and only a handful remained.

Violet heard her name called and walked up to the Sorting Hat with her hands shaking, what if they didn't put her in Gryffindor? James and her new friend Lily were in Gryffindor. She wouldn't mind being in Slytherin, that's where Severus had been placed and he didn't seem too bad. But what if she was placed in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw? She didn't know anyone in those houses.

She sat on the stool and felt the hat lowered on to her head. The hat considered her for a long time, telling Violet she was brave and smart. But that she would also make a wonderful Slytherin. Violet waited for nearly a minute until the Hat finally called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

She ran over to the Gryffindor table feeling extremely happy. James and Lily clapped the loudest as Violet sat in between them. The sorting ended soon after and the feast began.

"Lily! This is James," Violet said, pointing to the boy next to her.

Lily's face darkened, "We've met,"

Violet looked confused, "You have?"

"We met on the train. She was hanging out with that git Severus," James said.

"He is not a git!" Lily said defensively.

"Seemed like a git to me,"

"James!" Violet scolded.

James shrugged and turned back to eating.

"How do you know him?" Lily whispered to Violet.

"James? He's my best friend,"

"But he's mean!"

"He's not that mean. He can be really nice,"

Lily snorted, "I'll believe that when I see it,"

This time Harry was in the girl's dormitory. Lily was sitting on a bed and Violet was pacing in front of her. Harry guessed they were in their fourth year.

"I hate doing this you know," said Violet, "I hate having to divide my time between the two of you. Every week I plan out which meals I'm going to eat with you and which ones I'm going to eat with them,"

"I don't know why you're friends with them in the first place!" Lily said, standing up, "'The Marauders'," she said sarcastically, "They go around thinking they're so great! Hexing people just for the fun of it!"

"They're not that bad, and I thought you liked Remus!"

"Remus is acceptable. Black and Potter are just plain prats!"

"They can be really nice!"

"Maybe they _can_ be nice, but they never _are_!"

"Lily, just give them a chance! I'm friends with Severus!"

"So?"

"So, I'm friends with your childhood friend! Why can't you be friends with mine?"

"Severus is a good person! Potter is not!"

"I'll admit James isn't a saint, but he really isn't as horrible as you think!"

Lily snorted, "I'm gonna need to see some proof before I believe that,"

The scene dissolved and reformed quickly. Harry remembered this scene. He had seen it in his fifth year. This was when his dad and Sirius were taunting Snape. Lily came to Snape's defense. Snape called her a Mudblood and she stormed off.

"Evans!" James shouted after her, "Hey, EVANS!"

But she didn't look back.

"What is it with her?" said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited mate," said Sirius.

"Right," said James, who looked furious now, "right-"

There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside down in the air.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

This was where Snape's memory had stopped for Harry in fifth year. But Violet's memory kept going.

"Stop it James,"

James dropped Snape and spun around. Violet had been sitting with the girls at the lake and she had approached without anyone noticing.

Violet's features were a mixture of anger and disappointment, "You know, I've spent the last five years trying to convince Lily you guys aren't so bad. All of you," she said looking at the Marauders, "James and Sirius may be the only ones who actually hex people but the rest of you aren't any better! Peter, you just sit there and encourage them. And Remus! You don't even try to stop them!"

The four boys were looking increasingly guilty as Violet's speech went on.

Violet turned to look sadly at James, "You know what? I'm beginning to think Lily's right about you,"

Violet turned her back on the boys and began walking back up to the castle.

All four boys were looking extremely ashamed, but none more so than James.

"Violet!" said James, "VIOLET!"

But, like Lily, she didn't look back.

The next scene was many years later. Violet, Sirius, and many other finely dressed people were standing outside of a large tent. Violet was wearing a long blue dress and had her arm linked trough Sirius'. Harry guessed they were about nineteen or so.

Sirius turned to look at Violet, "You think he's ready?"

Violet laughed, "I think James has always been ready for today. If we're going to worry about anyone it should be Lily,"

"Well Maid of Honor, do you think the bride's ready?"

Violet smiled, "I know she is,"

Music drifted out from the open flap of the tent and the line of people began moving. Sirius and Violet entered the tent with Harry tagging along behind.

James was standing at the front of the room, dressed up very nicely in black dress robes.

Violet and Sirius broke apart, each moving to stand on either side of James. A few more pairs of bridesmaids and groomsmen made their own trips up the aisle. Harry felt a twinge of regret that he hardly knew anyone at his own parents wedding. Remus Lupin was accompanying a woman with long brown hair and startling pretty blue eyes.

They finished the trip and watched as a woman in a long white dress strode up the aisle. James beamed at her as she walked. Violet looked back and forth between them and smiled. She always knew they would end up together someday.

It was now a few hours later and Violet was sitting in a chair watching couples dance on the floor.

"May I have this dance?" James said as he came up next to her.

"Always," she replied with a smile.

The two began a slow waltz across the floor.

"Lily said you had something to tell me?" James asked.

Violet snorted, "So is this how it's going to be now? Everything I tell her in _secret _she's just going to go tell you?"

"I don't know, you don't usually keep secrets from me," he said seriously.

Violet smiled sadly, "I'm going away James,"

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I don't really know. There's just something I have to do," she said.

"What is it?"

"I can't tell you. I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to trust me on this,"

James sighed, "Violet you're one of the most trustworthy people I've ever met. If you say this is important then you should go. Just don't forget about the rest of us okay?"

"I could never forget about you," Violet smiled at her old friend and they continued to dance.

"_Harry!"a distance voice called._

Violet was running fast down a London street. She wasn't running from anyone and Harry could tell she wasn't afraid. She was in fact, happy. Harry chased after her for a few streets until they came to a small shop.

Violet calmed down a bit then casually leaned against the doorway of the shop. Harry, who was struggling to keep up, didn't glance at the doorway as he entered.

Harry was a bit surprised to find himself in the reception area of St. Mungo's Hospital.

Violet ran up to the woman sitting at the reception desk.

"Lily Potter," she managed to gasp out.

The woman smiled, "Room 14," she said pointing down the hall.

Violet muttered a thank you and took off down the hall.

Outside Room 14, Remus and Sirius were pacing.

"Did I miss it?" Violet gasped.

"No, but they want you in there," Remus said.

Violet nodded and slipped into the room.

Harry decided it was best to wait outside. He wasn't entirely sure, but Harry thought he knew what this memory was. This memory seemed to be a couple of years after the last one, Remus and Sirius looked around twenty.

Some amount of time later, James opened the door, "You guys can come in now,"

Sirius, Remus and Harry all cautiously entered the room. Inside, Violet and James were both sitting in chairs around a bed. In the bed sat Harry's mother, holding a baby.

Lily smiled, "Remus, Sirius. Meet Harry James Potter,"

All three men moved closer to the bed.

"He's beautiful Lily," said Remus.

Lily looked at her son warmly, "I know,"

Lily turned to Violet, "Would you like to hold him?"

Violet smiled and nodded. She took Harry and held him carefully, "Hello," she said quietly.

James grabbed one of Lily's hands, "Should we tell them?"

Lily nodded.

"Tell us what?" asked Sirius.

James and Lily both smiled.

"Well, Lily and I made a deal," James began, "You know you're all our best friends, and that we love all of you, so this was a very big decision for us,"

"What was a big decision?" Sirius repeated.

"Who Harry's godparent would be. So, after some long discussions, we decided if the child was a girl, Violet would be her godmother,"

Harry was a bit shocked to learn this woman had come so close to being his godparent.

Violet smiled and James continued, "If the child was a boy, Sirius would be his godfather,"

Sirius looked shocked, "Really?"

Lily and James both nodded.

Sirius walked over to where Violet was standing up, holding Harry.

"Hi," he whispered, looking down in awe at his godchild.

Violet walked down the street feeling happy. She hadn't been to see her friends in quite a long time. She approached a small apartment and knocked on the door excitedly.

Avery tired looking man opened the door, "Remus!" Violet shouted and pulled the man into a hug.

"Violet? How long have you been gone?" he said confusedly.

"A few weeks, but I'm back now! Come on lets put the kettle on and we can catch up," she said.

Remus stared at Violet sadly, "Violet, you haven't heard,"

Violet just began to notice how tired Remus looked. Much more tired and sad than he usual did.

"Heard what?" she said slowly.

"James and Lily. They," Remus paused, "Voldemort killed them, last week,"

Violet's face fell, "What? That's not- they can't have-,"

Remus tried pulling the girl into a hug but Violet pushed him away, "NO! You're lying!" she shouted.

Remus grabbed the girl and held her tightly as she began to sob against his chest, "No, they can't…,"

Violet felt numb. She was sitting in the meadow again. It was late fall and the once beautiful meadow was dead. It seemed fitting really, James and Lily were dead, the meadow should be dead too.

Harry sat down next to Violet, her sadness infecting him. She felt miserable which was to be expected, but what Harry wasn't expecting was that Violet also felt guilty. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and Harry couldn't help thinking that she looked so, hopeless.

"Go away," Violet said.

Remus Lupin, who had been quietly standing behind Violet came and sat down next to the girl.

"Go away Remus,"

"No," he said quietly.

Violet turned and glared at him, "I could've saved them. I could've saved them, but I didn't. I left and now they're-," her voice broke; she just couldn't bring herself to say it, "Gone,"

"It wouldn't have mattered if you were here or not. Dumbledore told you not to use your powers in front of Voldemort and he gave all of us orders not to let you,"

This didn't seem to console Violet at all. She turned her head away from Remus.

"Just leave me alone. Please,"

Remus sighed and stood up, "I'll leave if you really want me to. But I want you to know, you're never going to be alone Violet, not while I'm still here,"

Remus walked away and Violet began crying once again.

o0O0o

Just as suddenly as the memories had started, they were over. Harry was sitting on the kitchen floor of Grimmauld place in his own body and somehow he knew only a few minutes had passed. Violet was crouching in front of him with a hand resting on his shoulder and Harry could feel his face was wet with tears.

"I'm sorry Harry," Violet said.

Harry looked into her eyes and was able to see the pain there. She hid it so easily, but Harry knew. He didn't fully understand all that he'd seen, but he understood enough. Somehow, this woman was his parents' best friend.

"No. No, I'm the one who's sorry," he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

Violet's eyes filled with tears and Harry couldn't help but pull the woman into a hug. He felt her tentatively hug back and when the two broke apart a moment later, the tears were still in Violet's eyes. She quickly wiped them away and stood up. She held out her hand to Harry who took it and hauled himself up.

Harry brought his hand up to his face and realized he must've been crying a lot because his face and shirt were soaked.

"What happened?" he asked his relatives as he went to stand next to his wife.

"You were crying, I mean, more like sobbing," Ginny said gently.

"How long?" he asked.

"A minute or two," she said.

It had felt like a lifetime to Harry but he saw no need to say this aloud.

"Are you alright?" Ginny asked, concerned.

"Yes," still seeing Ginny's doubtful look he said, "Really, I'm fine,"

Ginny leaned in close to Harry and whispered, "Did she hurt you?"

"What? No!" he exclaimed, "She didn't hurt me!" he said to the room at large.

"Harry you should've seen yourself, you were a mess," said Ron.

Violet stood in the corner where Harry had fallen, looking ashamed.

"She didn't hurt me!" he told his relatives.

He walked back over to where Violet stood and said, "I would've done the same thing if I were you. I was being stupid earlier,"

He thought about the conversation that had seemed so long ago and said, "You were right. About everything. I'll stay here,"

An awkward silence stretched out until Bill broke it, "I'm fine with at least staying the night. I can't promise you how long I'll stay after that but I'll stay for now,"

Many heads, some reluctantly, nodded.

"It appears we're all at least staying the night," Mrs. Weasley began, "I'll make a list of who's rooming with who," and she left to go find a quill and some parchment.

Mrs. Weasley's plan managed to cram everyone into the five bedrooms with a few older kids conjuring beds and sleeping in the kitchen. The adults decided to leave Sirius and Regulus's bedrooms empty, in honor of their memories. The house hadn't been used in years and some adults offered to clean a bit until they thought it was safe enough to sleep in the beds.

"Am I the only one who didn't get to eat dinner?" Ginny asked.

"I don't think any of us got to eat," Roxanne said on behalf of the kids.

"I'll start making dinner then," Ginny said and the children who weren't cleaning offered to help.

"You might run into a slight problem there. There's no food in the house," Harry added.

Harry's old house elf, Kreacher, had died many years ago. He died from old age and he seemed to be happy when he went so Harry didn't feel too bad. They had a small funeral with Ron, Hermione and himself attending. Now that the House elf was gone, Grimmauld place had no one living in it, and no one cleaning it. This added up to the House's lack of food and abundance of dust.

Teddy said, "I can go get food,"

Fred considered Teddy for a minute, "Alright. But there is one problem there," Fred began, "You don't know how to use Muggle money. If you insist on going I'll come with you,"

Fred looked at Violet and they seemed to come to an understanding. Violet took off the baggy sweatshirt she was wearing and handed it to Fred, who put it on. Violet then dug around in a small bag around her neck that Harry recognized as moleskin. He had a very similar bag hanging around his own neck. She pulled out a large wallet and handed it to Fred.

"Thanks," he said, "Ready Teddy?" he asked and laughed at his own rhyme.

Teddy nodded and the two men set off.

Mrs. Weasley clapped her hands together, "Okay! Anyone who isn't helping Ginny cook is gonna help me clean! If that applies to you follow me," and she walked out of the kitchen, presumably heading to the bedrooms on the upper floors.

About three fourths of the group followed Mrs. Weasley including Violet and Harry. They reached the landing and Mrs. Weasley began dealing out jobs. People left to find the rooms they were cleaning until only Harry and Violet were left.

"You two have had a long day, go and rest," Mrs. Weasley said gently.

Harry snorted inwardly. They were acting like he was traumatized. He was most certainly not traumatized. He was a bit more shaken up than he'd like to admit, but not traumatized. Harry left to go find a room he could help clean. He wandered around and into rooms aimlessly. Whenever he asked what he could do to help the members of the room told him to go and rest.

Harry found himself on the third floor. He wandered into Sirius's bedroom and found it occupied.

Violet was sitting on Sirius's bed, lost in thought. Harry went and sat down next to the woman gently.

"Hi," he said softly.

"Hi," she replied.

"Look, I don't fully understand what happened back there. I don't know how you did that, or how you're my age when you should really be older, but I honestly don't care. My parents trusted you, a lot apparently, and that's good enough for me. And I want you to know, I don't blame you. I know how you felt after they died, and I don't know if you could've actually saved them or not, but I know you cared about them, and I know you didn't leave them on purpose,"

Violet turned to look at Harry, "Thank you. That means a lot,"

The two sat together for a long time in silence.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"What do you know about the Veil in the Department of Mysteries?" Violet said softly.

Harry stiffened. He didn't like being reminded of Sirius's death. But he honestly had no way of knowing if Violet knew about the battle at the Ministry or not.

"People believe it leads to the afterlife," he said slowly.

"Harry. Fred told me Sirius fell into it," she said gently.

Harry sighed, "He did,"

"Can you tell me a bit more about what happened?" she asked gently.

Harry sighed, but if anyone deserved to know it was Violet, so he began, "It was in my fifth year. A year after Voldemort had come back. Voldemort was trying to get his hands on a prophecy. The one that talked about how I was the only one who could defeat him, but only I could find the prophecy. He sent me a fake vision of him torturing Sirius and I fell for it. I and a few of my friends went to the Ministry to save him. We fought with loads of Death Eaters for a while. We were losing until more of the Order came. Sirius was dueling Bellatrix and she sent a spell that knocked him into the Veil. I was going to go after him, I didn't understand what the Veil was, but Remus stopped me,"

"Harry, this is really important. What spell did Bellatrix cast at Sirius?" she said slowly.

"I don't know, it was a silent spell," he replied, unsure why this was important.

"What do you think it was? What was the color?" she said quickly.

Harry thought for a moment, "I'd say it was Stupefy, the spell was red,"

Violet stood up quickly and practically ran out of the room. Harry followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Violet burst into the kitchen where women were cooking and Teddy and Fred were taking groceries out of bags. She pulled Fred into a corner and they began whispering hurriedly. Harry was the only person close enough to hear the quiet conversation, but many others were looking at Fred and Violet curiously.

"What happened?" Fred asked.

"I'm going back to the Ministry," said Violet.

"Excuse me?" Fred said.

Violet started to walk back out of the kitchen when Fred grabbed her arm, "What do you mean you're going back?"

"I have to go back," she said determinedly.

"If this is about the Veil we can look into it later," he said.

"Fred. The spell that hit Sirius wasn't a killing curse,"

Fred looked at Harry, "Is that true?"

"I think so," he said confusedly.

Fred snorted, "He thinks so. That isn't good enough for you to go and risk your neck!"

"Fred, if there's even a chance, I've have to try," she said pleadingly, staring at him.

Fred sighed in a defeated way, "Promise me you'll be careful," he whispered.

Violet smiled, "I will,"

She gave him a quick kiss and started to walk out.

"I'll see you soon!" she called.

Violet ran out of Grimmauld Place leaving a very confused Harry Potter behind.

**Author's Note- Reviews would be highly appreciated!**


End file.
